Business Impact Summary
"Without the processes and expertise Ventyx brought to the project, Eraring Energy would not have met our challenging go-live deadline, on time and within budget. It was the responsiveness of Ventyx to Eraring Energy's needs that got us over the line."
Jeff Balkwill
IT Manager
Eraring Energy
Eraring Energy is a state owned corporation that manages a diverse set of electricity-generating assets located throughout New South Wales. The upgrade to Ventyx Ellipse version 6.3 from version 5.3.2 was a significant project for Eraring Energy, as it involved replacing hardware, software and upgrading application software. In addition, the challenge was to also ensure effective communication and training scheduling for operational staff working in a 24x7 environment. Eraring Energy went live with Ventyx Ellipse version 6.3 on schedule in May 2008. The upgrade included improved functionality to existing modules, as well as the introduction of new modules, including Work Planner, Employee Self Service, Management Self Service, Enterprise Reporting and Training. The project was completed in time for Eraring Energy to meet its end of year reporting deadlines.
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The Company
Eraring Energy is a state owned corporation that manages a diverse set of electricity-generating assets located throughout New South Wales. Eraring Energy has a combined generating capacity of more than 3,000 megawatts (MW), including Eraring Power Station at 2,640MW, which is Australia’s equal largest. Its generation portfolio consists of 10 power stations, with 86 per cent of capacity being sourced from Eraring Power Station, located on Lake Macquarie, and the remainder consisting of smaller hydro and wind generation plants. Electricity Production and Energy Trading are the core business activities of Eraring Energy.
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The Challenge
The upgrade to Mincom Ellipse version 6.3 from version 5.3.2 was a significant project for Eraring Energy, as it involved replacing hardware, software and upgrading application software. In addition, the challenge was to also ensure effective communication and training scheduling for operational
staff working in a 24x7 environment.
Mark Edwards, IT and Telecommunications Manager, Eraring Energy, said, “While Eraring Energy was happy with Ventyx Ellipse version 5.2.3, it could see the benefit of upgrading to Ventyx Ellipse version 6.3 and incorporating new modules to maximise the software functionality. The go live date for Eraring Energy was crucial as it needed to ensure that the new system would be ready for end of month and end of year reporting. Eraring Energy engaged Ventyx consultants as it had utilised Ventyx’s expertise in a previous upgrade and found its experience to be extremely valuable,” Edwards added.
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The Solution
Eraring Energy went live with Ventyx Ellipse version 6.3 on schedule in May 2008. The upgrade included improved functionality to existing modules, as well as the introduction of new modules, including Work Planner, Employee Self Service, Management Self Service, Ventyx Enterprise Reporting and Training.
The technical scope of the project included:
- Upgrading Ventyx Ellipse version 5.2.3 to Ventyx Ellipse version 6.3 and migrating all existing customizations, connectors and CorVu reports to the new environment
- Consolidating the number of Unix servers used for Ventyx Ellipse application and databases from the existing four to two
- Relocating all Ventyx Ellipse production and non-production databases onto the storage area network (SAN)
- Implementing VMWare for the deployment of Citrix servers for Ventyx Ellipse development, testing, training and disaster recovery environments
- Implementing Work Planner and Employee Self Service applications as well as WebView, the client software for accessing these applications
- Implementing the new Ventyx Ellipse reporting functionality
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The Result
The project was completed in time for Eraring Energy to meet its end of year reporting deadlines. Key benefits of the upgrade included:
- Enhanced functionality introduced by Ventyx Ellipse version 6.3
- Enhanced maintenance scheduling functions through the new Work Planner module
- Paperless planning and processing of employee leave applications through the ESS and MSS modules providing instance availability and visability of leave requests to team leaders
- Greater flexibility in the methods of payment, reduction of payroll groups, improvement in the methods used for payroll data verification and streamlining payroll production through the improved Payroll module
- Ability to disseminate information to managers, team leaders and staff about available training courses, nomination for them and attendance through the web based Learning module, which integrates with ESS and MSS
- Improved security over contracts by restricting access to only those contracts that a user of the Advanced Contracts module is authorised to view
- Ability to generate key business documents including purchase orders, job cards, remittance advices, payment certificates and OHS reports. As part of organizational change management, regular newsletters were sent out to staff by the Organizational Change Manager (OCM) to ensure awareness of the project and a flexible training schedule was developed.
Jeff Balkwill, IT Applications Manager at Eraring said, “Ventyx consultants provided valuable input into the Organisatonal Change Management Plan. They assisted the OCM to assess the business impact of the new and changed functionality and the training requirements of the users.”
Eraring Energy is currently running a pilot of Action Tracking, part of the Health, Safety, Social Responsibility and Environment (HSSE) module, to track the status of corrective actions in its business continuity area. On successful completion of the pilot, the solution will be rolled out to manage actions across a wider range of business activities, including OHS, security incidents and operational incidents.
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